• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, October 23, 2007

Heavy Social Network Visitors Also Prefer "Leisure" Retail Sites

A recent comScore study shows that heavy U.S. visitors to social networking sites (the top 20 percent of visitors based on time spent on social networking sites) are significantly more likely than average to visit leisure-oriented retail site categories. More than 95 percent of heavy social networkers visited retail sites in August, compared to 80 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience. These heavy social networkers exhibited a particularly high tendency to visit the more leisure-oriented retail categories, including those featuring entertainment, fashion, and retail technology.

comScore Chairman, Gian Fulgoni, said "There appears to be a natural synergy between the leisure categories and social networking sites. People typically enjoy sharing their experiences with these products, whether it's to talk about their new iPhone or the pair of designer jeans they just bought... "

 The current study also examined which individual sites attracted the highest percentage of visitors from the heavy social networking segment, revealing that the heavy social networkers have a strong propensity to visit retail apparel sites. In fact, each of the top ten ranked sites were fashion and apparel sites oriented to young adults.

 "Apparel retailers... geared towards younger consumers... can benefit by considering the use of social networking sites as a marketing channel," concluded Mr. Fulgoni. 

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